Why Pride month is important
Today marks the beginning of Pride month! And here at Collectology we thought we would take a quick look at what it is and why it’s so important.
Pride month takes place in June every year and celebrates the acceptance and equality of the LGBTQ+ community, educates about their history and raises awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. People come together in a celebration of love and friendship, showing the progress of LGBTQ+ rights and reminding people of work that still needs to be done.
What was the Stonewall riots?
June was chosen because this was when the Stonewall riots took place in America. In 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot, leading to six days of protests and brought America and the world’s attention to the gay rights movement.
Excitingly for collectors, the UK’s FIRST Pride 50p is being released this Summer, marking the 50th anniversary of the first official Pride UK event in London.
Artist, writer and LGBTQ+ activist, Dominique Holmes (They/Them), has designed the beautiful reverse which depicts Pride’s history of political protest and social reform, all while celebrating the indomitable spirit of the UK’s LGBTQ+ community.
In celebration of the first day of Pride month 2022, I thought I’d see what Pride Festivals are taking place this year (I have mentioned two), along with a Pride influenced film and TV series, and some Pride focused comics which may spark collector’s interests.
Pride Events in June
Oxford Pride Festival — 4th June
Oxford Pride Festival 2022 will take places on Saturday 4th June 2022 and includes the following events:
- Pride Parade — 12noon meet from 11am at Radcliffe Square
- Pride Day — 12noon-6pm at Oxford Castle Quarter, County Hall, Leiden Square.
- Paradise Street Party — 12-10pm, DJ from 4pm
York Pride Festival — 18th June
York Pride Festival 2022 will take place on Saturday 18th June 2022 and includes the following events:
- Pride Parade — 11:45am at York Minster (Duncombe Place)
- Live on stage — Nadine Coyle, Davina De Campo and many more!
- Official After Party — Ziggy’s Bar & Nightclub on Micklegate
Inclusive Movies / TV Shows
Thor: Love and Thunder
Chris Hemsworth once again takes up the role of Thor in this follow up film to Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. Fans are already going wild for the film which is set to explode onto the big screen on July 8th. Why? Because of its LGBTQ+ inclusive moments. Watch the Official Thor: Love and Thunder trailer here >>
Although Thor is set on retiring and living a seemingly peaceful life to figure out “exactly who I am”, he is soon required again with the arrival of supervillain Gorr the God Butcher.
Thor approaches the Guardians of the Galaxy and Star-Lord, AKA Peter Quill, offers him some meaningful advice “If you ever feel lost, just look into the eyes of the people that you love” to which Thor tries to find Quill’s line of sight however, he is shut down with Quill responding, “not me”. Fans are very excited as this is just one scene so far that hints to the new film including multiple LGBTQ+ inclusive moments.
It was only in 2020 that the first gay kiss took place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with many describing the journey to Marvel’s first gay couple as a long one. Final cuts of films have missed scenes that could have shed more light on the LGBTQ+ community, but now we are beginning to see increasing amounts of representations in new releases, which is extremely positive for the community.
By having inclusive moments in some of our favourite films and TV shows it’s only going to help increase awareness and promote acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community further.
Umbrella Academy Season 3
Umbrella Academy premieres on Netflix on June 22nd — the new season seeing Elliot Page playing Viktor Hargreeves in his first major role since coming out as trans.
To our delight, all ten episodes will be released on the same day! You can watch the Official Umbrella Academy Season 3 trailer here >>
Season 3’s episodes will take place at the mysteriously named hotel Oblivion and in a broad sense, showrunner Steve Blackman has said “Season 3 is, who are we and where did we come from? What are we as superheroes? [That] is really a story I’d love to think about more in season 3.”
Elliot Page first came out as transgender in December 2020 and Netflix updated all of the actors’ previous credits. At the time, changes to Page’s character Vanya, were not mentioned, however recently it was announced by Page himself that Vanya would be transitioning to Viktor. This is great as Page shouldn’t be made to continue playing a female character after having transitioned, a very positive move from Netflix.
Gerard Way, the writer of the American comic book, has been supportive of Page’s and thus Victor’s transition from the start. He has provided consistent support and devotion to making the onscreen transition as seamless as possible.
Inclusive Comic Books
DC Pride 2022
Set to hit stores later this month, the highly anticipated DC Pride 2022 sees Superman of Earth Jon Kent receive an LGBTQ+ inspired cape from his boyfriend.
Nakamura, Jon’s boyfriend, waits longingly on top of a roof for Kent. He is wearing a Pride heart shirt and holds a special gift in his hands. Kent opens up the present revealing a new Superman cape which is detailed with the various colours of Pride flags — including the pansexual, bisexual, trans, ace and non-binary flags — stitched on the inside.
The son of the original Superman Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Kent, cam out as bisexual last year in Superman: Son of Kal-El #5 when his friendship with Nakamura turned into a romantic one. Tom Taylor, the writer of Superman: Son of Kal-El, has stated that “everyone deserves to see themselves in their superheroes” and Superman’s symbol today “represents something more”.
G Willow Wilson & Marcio Takara Launch New Poison Ivy Series For 2022
Pride month also sees the release of DC comics new Poison Ivy series, written by G. Willow and drawn by Marcio Takara. The story consists of six issues and follows Ivy as she leaves Gotham City to complete her greatest work — helping the world deal with the damage humanity has caused to it.
Although since 1966, Poison Ivy has by no means let herself be dominated by any male figure, this new series focuses on her LGBTQ+ identity. Her same-sex attraction with Harley Quinn, which has been hinted at for years, is now being addressed directly and these six issues are set to provide an enriching story for LGBTQ+ relationships.
Covers by Jessica Fong (main), Warren Louw (open-to-order variant and 1:100 foil variant), Nick Robles (1:25 variant), Frank Cho (1:50 variant), and Dan Mora (team variant).
Pride month 2022, which begins today, 1st June, is going to be widely celebrated. In the UK, it’s now in it’s 50th year and continues to unite communities in a colourful celebration of positivity and solidarity.
As I mentioned earlier, the UK’s FIRST Pride 50p is being released this Summer. Available in specifications Brilliant Uncirculated and Silver Proof from us, Collectology, we’re sure this is going to gather interest!
How do you plan to celebrate Pride month? Let me know in the comments if there are any festivals you will be attending, or how excited you are on a scale of 1-10 for the new Thor: Love and Thunder film!
